Premier School Kindergarten Teacher (Open to Education Majors)

Department: Premier School

Locations: Maruyama, Takamori Campuses - Sendai, Japan

Reports To: Premier School Program Director, Deputy Program Director

Job Summary:

This homeroom teacher within the MeySen Premier School has a class of about 16 students, 4 or 5 year old Japanese children, who are working towards becoming bi-lingual. Outside of a 40-minute long Japanese class, the children are immersed in English; learning through songs, chants, short poems, memory work, games, stories and some phonics and writing. Due to the classroom being entirely in English, teachers must be very sensitive to the needs of their students and also quite creative in communicating with them.

Qualifications:

• Applicant must have a four-year degree, from an accredited college or university, in Early Childhood Education (ECE) or Elementary Education. Having time as a student teacher is expected and preferred. 
• Applicant has a strong hold of the English language; oral and written.
• Applicant must have English as their mother-tongue. Specifically, the applicant was raised in an all-English household or has lived in an all-English-speaking country for much of their life.
• English speakers coming from countries outside of North America will be required to use a North American accent. This is the standard that has been established for all phonemic learning at the school.
• Applicant is physically able to perform the job description to its fullest. Please see "Essential Functions" for those details.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Honest, hardworking, flexible and dedicated individual
• Someone who has a warm, positive, energetic personality and loves to show it with a smile
• Able to communicate and care for small children who have little to no English experience. (Requires a teacher to have patience, sensitivity and self-control.) 
• Creative and innovative (Must be able to plan and create stations and creative arts; like plays and dance performances.)

Essential Functions:

• Memorizes and masters the GrapeSEED curriculum, levels 1 through 12, which includes chants, songs and stories.
• Prepares their classroom, materials, and other indoor and outdoor spaces to facilitate creative learning through play, motor-skill activities, and safety. Creates and maintains a clean, interactive classroom environment. This includes the planning and arranging of stations to present learning challenges and curriculum related activities.
• Teaches basic skills such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
• Observes and evaluates children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
• Establishes and enforces rules for behavior, and policies and procedures to maintain order amongst students.
• Models and develops English listening and speaking skills using the GrapeSEED standard teaching techniques. Develops fundamental skills for learning how to read and write.
• Learns, tests, and implements teaching techniques provided by the GrapeSEED curriculum, or as requested by the training team or School Director.
• Intentionally cultivates relationships with the students by first learning each child’s name. Consistently interacts, both inside and outside the classroom, with each child.
• Leads children in singing and models correct melody, rhythm, and pronunciation.
• Maintains up-to-date and accurate records of class plans, student attendance, points and rewards.
• Participates in meetings by sharing knowledge, experiences, and ideas with their fellow Premier School Kindergarten teachers.
• Plays actively and daily with children: running, using playground equipment, games, and balls. Instructs and leads children in keeping the rules of the MeySen playground and enforces playground and safety rules.   Other activities throughout the school year may also include hiking, boating, swimming, field games, camping and leading horses.
• Maintains a safe environment through constant visual supervision, intervenes physically in emergency situations, including, if necessary, carrying an injured child to a place of safety.
• Leads and participates in exercise time (running laps every day for 5 minutes).
• Plans, coordinates, and participates in simple dance performances with the children.
• Communicates frequently with the School Director and Head Teacher regarding the children’s learning progress and classroom issues.
• Works with fellow teachers to plan, manage and execute special events and programs, including dances and physical exercise. Responsible for the set-up and clean-up of each program. Serves in a support capacity for other grade level events and programs.
• Communicates with parents with the help of the assistants regarding the progress and development of the child.
• Performs other duties as assigned

Working Conditions:

Monday ~ Friday 8:00AM to 5:00PM*

*Actual time with the children is from 8:30~2:15 while the rest of the day is used for preparation and meetings

*There are a few weekends throughout the year that we have events or special programs. This event time is compensated with hours off the event of the week or a compensation day off, depending on the event. 

During Christmas parties and summer camps the schedule is changed to accommodate all the events. During these times, a work and staffing schedule is given ahead of time so that our staff can plan accordingly. These types of activities also require extra meetings and preparation.

Daily Schedule (Example):

8:00AM Meet in office, prepare classroom

8:30AM Greet children that arrive on the first bus, morning care and parent drop-off.

8:50AM Morning Stations with the first group of children.

9:15AM Second bus arrives and all play in classroom

9:30AM Clean-up and use restroom

9:40AM 1st Circle Time

10:20AM Playtime

10:40AM Gather

10:45AM 2nd Circle Time

11:20AM Japanese Class with a Japanese Teacher

12:00PM Lunch & Playtime

1:00PM Show & Tell & Story Time

1:35PM Dismiss 1st Bus Children

1:40PM Afternoon Stations with Second Bus Children

2:20PM Clean-up & Pack-up Time

2:30PM Dismiss 2nd Bus Children & Day Care Children

3:00PM Teacher Planning, Preparing and Meeting Time

5:00PM Time to Leave

Compensation:

Annual Base Salary starting at 3,630,000 yen (https://fx-rate.net/JPY/USD/)

Monthly Break-down: 240,000 yen + 50,000 yen (house subsidy) = 290,000 yen per month

Completion Bonus of 150,000 yen

Other Benefits:

• Annual completion bonuses and re-signing bonuses
• Fully furnished apartment
• One economy class round trip plane ticket per year
• Insurance & Pension - Enrollment into the Shigaku Kyosai (Private School Mutual Aid) system. This system includes health insurance (Kenko Hoken), National Pension (Kokumin Nenkin) and Employees' Pension (Kosei Nenkin) contributions.
• Paid training (February & March)
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Japanese national holidays (about 15 annually)
• Three extended vacations throughout year:
  • Spring (1 week)
  • Summer (2 weeks)
  • Winter (2 weeks)

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